


A Tale of a Nun's ill-will

by Susamo



Series: A Knight of Arkon in 1149 [4]
Category: Perry Rhodan - Various Authors
Genre: Atlan Adventure in time, F/M, The Knight of Arkon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:27:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26697469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Susamo/pseuds/Susamo
Summary: Atlan da Gonozal in his role as a minstrel and knight from Toulouse must find ways to deal with the mission he has been handed, to decipher and deliver the letters dead Alan Fitzurse has bequeathed to him together with the task of getting several powerful men together at one table to hammer out an alliance. He must prevent the civil war from flaring up once again. For that, he will have to go to the courts of princes, where he will be well received if he comes with his wife and his squire, but not if he comes with his lennaun. Though he cannot marry his love in a Christian church, he has promised to marry her in handfasting. To win the support of her family they go to speak to an aunt of Alexandra of Lancaster. But the meeting does not go too well...
Relationships: Atlan da Gonozal/Alexandra of Lancaster
Series: A Knight of Arkon in 1149 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1938052
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1





	A Tale of a Nun's ill-will

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Palatinedreams](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Palatinedreams/gifts).



> I have done my best to keep to historical truth. The princes of Wales are historical, and so are King David of Scotland or Ranulf of Chester. The meeting at Carlisle happened as well, complete with young Henry Fitzempress attending it.  
> With him was Roger Fitzmiles de Gloucester, the second Earl of Hereford.
> 
> As historical are the struggles of Raymond of Toulouse with the church. The devastation an interdict of excommunication by a high church official, or the pope himself, could wreak is documented over and over. No sacrament could be given nor could mass be read in the whole country of the man affected, his subjects went without any benefit of the church. The sick and dying could not be shriven and were thought to go to hell in consequence, and the subjects and vassals of a king or a count so excommunicated were meant to disobey him and desert him. Churchmen in the middle ages often misused the power faith and church gave them, and excommunicated people for political reasons and even for their personal gain. In the case of count Raymond of Toulouse, though, the church had reason to be wroth with him.
> 
> I could not resist quoting Ellis Peters here and her books about Brother Cadfael. Hugh Beringar is a frequent character in her novels.
> 
> Angevin is the language of Anjou; the Angevins are the ducal house of Anjou, the house of Plantagenet. Geoffrey "le bel" Plantagenet, duke of Anjou, married Empress Mathilda (or Maude), the only legitimate child of King Henry I. of England after her brother died when his ship sank (the catastrophe of "la Blanche Nef", the White Ship). He won Normandy as well. They were the parents of young Henry Fitzempress Plantagenet, who became King Henry the II of England.
> 
> Note: all Arkonides have white hair and red eyes. They are the inhabitants of the Star System of Arkon, the center of an Empire containing about fifty thousand planets and outpost upon moons or star stations. Atlan is immortal because he wears the gift of IT, an all-powerful energetic being, his cellular activator which keeps him young and makes any wound heal swiftly. In this story, to avoid the ceaseless danger for the activator to be stolen, the Arkonide wears the small egg-like gadget implanted beneath the left shoulder instead of carrying it on its chain around his neck. He has a so-called logic sector, also named the extra brain, a kind of internal telepathic adviser always heeding logic and reminding his mental partner of dangers. This logic sector was activated after Atlan had passed the tests of the ARK SUMMIA at his home the Great Star Empire of Arkon, and the activation of a photographic memory was also included. Upon Earth, the Arkonides had built a base at the bottom of the Atlantic ocean, the Dome, where Atlan has passed most of the long time of his lonely exile among barbarians asleep. But from time to time he wakens, for example, when danger is threatening Earth or an alien ship is landing. Then his faithful robot Rico will call him up and equip him with everything he needs for the time and place he will go to, including robotic animals like a falcon or a wolf, or a robot in the shape of a horse which can carry him through the air at need. The gadgets he carries else might include a hypno beamer, or a beamer gun that could burn down a whole village, or a skorge tar which might render him invisible to human eyes. But he must be very careful to use such things and refrain from using them all together but in the direst of need because his little barbarians might become afraid of him and might attack him, believing him to be a devil or a demon. Or, as they did in the olden times, they might think him a Faye, a knight from Faery...

A Tale of a Nun’s ill-will

It was a lively and happy affair, later, when they had their meal at last after their trothplight. Atlan and Alexandra practically shone with happiness, and the tender looks exchanged between them could have melted hearts, if not butter, as the squire remarked. His master laughed at that and admitted that he needed a little time now before he could play the bad-natured man again. Hereford seemed to be far away still.

In the end, it was the religious aunt they had to settle for first. Winifred de Comfrey was out of town with her husband and would return on the morrow or the day after that, the servant answering at the town house’s gate said. They could have asked for shelter and might have been granted it, but with the master of the house not present guests neither expected nor known would not easily have been accepted, and neither was such shelter necessary for a man of means and a noble who could go to an inn or to an abbey’s guest quarters.

The nun’s priory at Hereford was a Benedictine cloister which offered a guest house and quarters for the sick, gave alms, and fed the poor. The sisters were held in the highest regard and valued highly for their charitable work, and had the protection of the sheriff and the overlord of town and county, Roger Fitzmiles, 2nd Earl of Hereford, though that earl was not on well-speaking terms with clergy else, Alexandra explained, when they were settled in.

His father Miles of Gloucester, 1st Earl of Hereford, had been a loyal adherent of Stephen and together with his son’s father-in-law ruled the whole Welsh border as sheriff and earl. He had taken part in the civil war between king Stephen and Empress Maud on the side of the king eleven years ago when he had helped him besiege Shrewsbury and win back that town, but a year later he defected from the king’s side to become a champion for the Empress, the only living child of King Henry the first, and his official heir.

It was Miles of Gloucester who burnt Worcester ten years ago for her and stayed on her side, eight years ago winning with her at Lincoln, and losing with her at Winchester later that year. A year after he signed a close alliance with her half-brother and greatest supporter, the Earl Robert of Gloucester. Six years ago Miles of Gloucester needed money to pay his troops and demanded it from the bishop of Hereford, who then was named Robert de Bethune, but didn’t get it and, when he tried to force the bishop by arms, was excommunicated with his followers, and the diocese laid under an interdict. That year in winter the Earl died while hunting, excommunicated, unblessed and unshriven, and the hardness of Bishop Robert de Bethune was to blame.

Roger Fitzmiles succeeded his father and bore little goodwill to the church and its bishops hereafter in his heart. Though he managed to have his kinsman Gilbert Folliot instated as the bishop of Hereford last year after de Bethune’s death, the young woman said, he was quarreling with him within the year, since the new bishop had given his word at Reims, where he was instated and consecrated, that he would not go to Stephen’s side, and had sworn fealty there to young Henry FitzEmpress-but swore allegiance to King Stephen on his return.

The quarrel grew bitter and vicious, and after warning him three times this bishop too had unsheathed that weapon of the church and excommunicated his opponent.  
Only recently that excommunication had been lifted since the penitent young earl had founded a new abbey called Flaxley on the site of his father’s death, saving his soul and perhaps even his condemned father’s. Apart from that young Roger, now about twenty-nine, always had been on his father’s side and had supported him and had attended the Empress Maud’s court.

“So, we have an ally of the Angevin party lording it over Hereford, and over your father too,” the Arkonide concluded. “Which explains why Alan Fitzurse would run to this shire. The enemies pursuing him, though, must have been loyal to King Stephen’s cause.”

“Up north that’s Shropshire, and Shrewsbury”, Alexandra retorted. “The sheriff holding the town and the county is named Hugh Beringar. But he has a quite fair reputation, and I would not accuse him or his men to run a fugitive through like this. On the other hand, there’s a man named Adam de Courcelle, King Stephen’s bloodhound and hunter of traitors in the area. He is acting independently from the sheriff and is at odds with him more often than not, but with his actions Beringar cannot disagree, since they are in the service of the king. He can at least do what he wills upon his own land if it is not against the law –or the interests of the king, which is where the problem lays. He’s an extremely hard Norman lord who rules his villeins, and especially those of the Saxon kind, with an iron fist.”

“Should be a close friend of Surrey de Mowbray”, Atlan murmured, grimacing.

“He is”, Gromell threw in and compressed his lips. “They like to go out hunting together, Mowbray and Courcelle. For deer as well as for men.”

The Arkonide nodded shortly. He got the picture, right and clean.

“In principle, I am on neither side, not on the Empress Maud’s side nor king Stephen’s”, he said. “If at all I am on the side of the people and what might be best for them. The civil war is good for no-one, not even the lords who die in the fights and lose their property and their goods; only the few who are given more than they had before benefit at all, and for how long till luck swings back there is no saying. Peace and stability, a lawful and undisputed rule of a king are what is needed. Stephen has made too many mistakes to be accepted unequivocally, and neither is he the lawful heir to the throne. Mathilda, called Maud, has been too arrogant and vengeful also. We must look to the younger generation; Maud has her son Henry FitzEmpress, aged sixteen now, and Stephen has Eustace, who is six years older than Young Henry. But while Henry has a lot of experience already, having sat in his mother’s council, was present at Reims, and expects to be duke of Normandy and Anjou, Eustace’s prospects are scarcer and his accomplishments up to now pretty small. And then Henry has an asset Eustace lacks completely.”

Alexandra looked at her lover with interest, and even Gromell was clearly fascinated.

“The support of many of the most important nobles of France. Geoffrey his father holds Normandy and Anjou and has started secret contact with Aquitaine. Louis the king of France and Eleanor his queen are at odds, were so before the crusade, and are so the more now. Eleanor contemplates annulment of her marriage; and her gaze goes toward young Henry whom she knows from before and has heard much of lately.”

Gromell started to grin while the young woman looked doubtful, but she nodded when her promised described the power Henry might amass and the stability his rule might bring.

“An alliance in the north, and such a one it must be if Ranulf of Chester is involved, must take David King of Scotland into account as well; the secrecy and the pursuit by men loyal to the king prove that this is an Angevin enterprise, or at least done with Angevin involvement, and nothing else makes sense. That means young Henry must be somewhere in this too. Taking part in this I take the side of Young Henry FitzEmpress and the Angevin cause, and technically would become a traitor to the Crown, meaning King Stephen. Practically I don’t, because I am no English Knight, and with helping an alliance form which might avoid war breaking out again and might offer a strong base of power for Henry to act from, I will help bring peace and a stable rule along which will end the civil war for good. That is the cause I am willing to stand up for, and so I will. The earl of Hereford is a potential ally for us, then. Alexandra-do you agree?”

She smiled, surprised for a moment that she, a woman, was being asked for her opinion and her assent, and that in political matters. How honourably and considerately her promised was treating her, proving to her how much he valued her and her opinion, so far different from the way her father had treated her-or how any other lord she knew of would treat his lady! 

“My opinion is-let the war end, any way it is possible. King Stephen is a usurper and an oath breaker and has taken the throne under the pretext of keeping order and peace-and has accomplished the opposite. He and his men have committed many atrocities. My father has seldom spoken about politics with me, and I thought that he was loyal to the king, as he had to be, being a small lord with little power. Now I have learned that he secretly is working for an alliance which must be directed against the king, as little as I would have expected such doings from a man of his bearing and character. As his daughter I should support him, being loyal to him, and so should I support you who will be my husband. But it is my own opinion too. Anything to bring along peace, and an end to all this slaughter, and if Henry’s rule offers the better chance for that and he has the stronger backing that might make king Stephen give up in the end-he was a prisoner before, at Lincoln-then for Henry I will declare. For now, but secretly?”

Atlan smiled at her somewhat uncertain tone. Alexandra was not used to be asked her opinion, and a political one at that, and she needed guidance still. Her father had not taught her to lie or to work at intrigue; for all that, her play-acting yesterday and this morning had been quite a good performance.

“Yes. Secretly, definitely. Officially our only concern is the elopement tangle we find ourselves in. We keep the matter of the letters perfectly secret too but can keep in mind that in case of unexpected danger and developments the Earl of Hereford might be an ally to us. But we do not know that yet, for sure. Gromell-do you go along with all of this as well?”  
Now it was the young man’s turn to be surprised. He knew that his master called him his friend and treated him so, but he was this knight’s squire and owed him his life-apart from, of course, allegedly being in part a descendant of people who came from the stars.

Haltingly he answered:” As your squire, I can but follow your opinion and action, Atlan my friend. The same goes for your experience and knowledge-what you think good must be best indeed, and your concern is for all of us, for all men, not only for the Welsh or the Saxons or the Scottish or the Normans alone. So, if this is the view a man from the stars takes, then that is the view I too should take, shouldn’t I, with my grandfather coming from Diarmuid Faighe? So, I will support the side and best interest of all people here on this isle of Britain, not only what would be best for a Saxon man. And that anyway is the same side, I believe. King Stephen takes the Norman side too much, with having to make concessions to the most brutal lords, because he needs their fighting strength. Henry the old king was more just than Stephen is, and if young Henry his grandson has the same trait, and can muster the loyalty of all the English lords, then he will be a far better king than Stephen is, and his son Eustace can be. So I’m for Henry FitzEmpress and for peace in the long run. But with all you have explained to me before, and with what my grandfather has told me when I was young- I understand that he’ll have to fight still for his throne and that more warring and fighting will have to come before lasting peace can arrive at the end. With a northern alliance you will but be able to stop a war in the making there, drawing in King David as an ally instead of having him over the border as a reiver-again-, and keeping Ranulf from attacking Wales and making the Welsh Henry’s allies instead of Ranulf starting another border war through Shropshire and Herefordshire, losing Henry that potential support.”

Appreciatively the Arkonide raised his brows. 

“Do you doubt your ancestry still?” he asked gently and saw the young archer shake his head slowly.

“Not when you are teaching me like this, Atlan, my friend”, he softly answered, deeply affected and disturbed, and abruptly turned to go out and ostentatiously see to the horses.

They had taken quarters at the Priory and had been given a good room with a bed for husband and wife and their squire to sleep on the straw on the floor. 

“Now for the harder part.”

Atlan took a deep breath and reached out for Alexandra’s hand, and felt it to be cold of a sudden. She gave a twisted smile and looked down. In the festive garb she had worn also at Abergavenny Castle, the ring on her finger and the combs in her hair, she looked the fine lady indeed. That she had no other female clothes with her no-one knew, and the Arkonide planned to remedy that. He knew what to buy and how to furnish out a female companion.

“Shall we meet your aunt together, or will you speak with her alone first?”

“I don’t know if she-if she can do anything to make trouble! Of course-I am not her ward. She cannot legally have me held in the cloister. Only my father could order me locked up.”

“Who is not here, and who doesn’t know that you are here. Apart from that, if I claim you for my wife by right of marriage by capture and ravishment, and you do not deny me, then into my custody you go, and lawfully. No-one can take you from me under these circumstances.”

“My aunt as my only closer member of the family could appeal to the Earl as my father’s liege-lord to act in my father’s stead, and that, too, would make trouble enough. We want to come to the attention of the people here, not get locked up and held for days or weeks!”

Atlan frowned. “That belligerent you aunt could be?” he asked in an only halfway humorous tone. “Knowing that you no longer are a virgin and might halfway be minded to wed me-what should stand in the way for her to give her consent in the end, after we have made our stir, apart from the fact that her consent is moot?”

The young woman shook her head. “It’s all upside down”, she sighed. “With aunt Winifred met first we would have had a harmless place to stay in, the matter discussed with family and settled before I came here. Now my family has heard nothing of what befell me, and nothing has been decided upon. My inheritance is at issue since I am my father’s only living child, that means Lancaster Castle and the whole barony come with my hand! That is very much a matter to deal with for the Earl my father’s overlord, don’t you think? Hearing of our elopement and the abduction you forced upon me he will involve himself since the matter concerns him indeed! And then there is the story we will give out that you are under church ban and look so odd and are but a landless knight errant. That is what we agreed upon before, didn’t we? A good story to explain my hesitation to wed ye, my love, while we agree after some upheaval. But only if the whole matter concerns but my family. With the Earl taking the matter in hand it is a vastly different story. Then it is clear what you are after! Earl Roger Fitzmiles might even take you as his liege vassal quite happily once your fighting prowess is proven. But then you are under his orders and his control and cannot do or go where you wish to anymore! And then-the other possibility is that my father simply disinherits me for the traitress I am! That would be his right, and I believe it to be very plausible that he will! Earl Roger as his liege lord owes it to my father that he can decide for that or against it, and for that to be possible in the first place he must put you under lock and key and lock me in at the abbey, for example, for us to await my father’s decision and pleasure!”

The Arkonide’s eyebrows were up. This sounded a bit direr than the events he had planned for. But Alexandra was right enough. 

“So, we both renounce any claim you might have on your inheritance, publicly and before the Earl”, he said calmly. 

“That solves that problem in advance. Or, we could avoid the whole issue at all and wait for your aunt Winifred to come home, spend one or two days peacefully in Hereford, furnishing you out and buying clothes and proper gear for you, and then take it from there. No harm done to anyone.”

“Time presses”, his love answered in an unhappy tone. “My father cares for me very much. He will take my disappearance for the abduction it was not-I could have been taken by anyone involved in that ambush, even Surrey of Mowbray! He is even a likely candidate under the circumstances! So, my father will raise all our men to go look for me, and Hereford will be one of the places he will look first, just for the reasons why we came here, because of my close kin here. Father will not overlook the possibility that it is you who took me, much as it happened in truth. He has seen our sweet banter two days ago, for sure! No-one knows what happens if he comes with us face-to-face and we are not married yet!”

“I see.” Atlan kept his countenance and stayed calm. Alexandra had no idea what he could do, in truth. He might even render Poins of Lancaster a smiling and happy father-in-law with the hypno beamer, and no harm done else. But since that violated Free Will for humans only for his personal gain, he was not going to do that but in the direst of straits.

“Is your father prone to draw on me in the street?”

She smiled a little, seeing his eyes laugh at her, seemingly throwing golden sparks. He was undaunted and still took all of this with a laugh, good on one side. 

“Possibly. I cannot say.”

“Then I will fight him harmlessly to give him the honour of the match and then will take his weapon and force him to desist and calm down. He will be willing to listen to reason, after.”

“Let’s hope so.” She sighed and looked at her promised questioningly. “What shall we do?”

“Risk your aunt. Let us be more contrite both than we had planned, with me making it clear that I will not ask for any dowry and agree to marry in a handfasting. It will be more of a confession to clear guilty hearts then than asking for advice proper, and the stir we will make will be smaller-but let us make of our handfasting the more, at the richest inn or at the priory’s steps. Then we will be remembered before we ride away, to Wales, or wherever else the letters send us.”

She inclined her head, and together they went out to ask at the gate about sister Benedicta, former Aldreda of Eavenstead, and were told that the good sister would receive them with the abbess’ permission after prayer at the Nons and midday meal, which they could be served in their room if they asked for it, and gave alms for it.

Keeping himself from grinning the Arkonide asked for such a meal for three and gave an ample tip, which was taken by the lay brother serving the guests outside of the cloister proper with a deep bow, and the service was swift then and appropriate.

“Let us use the time to have a look at those letters at last”, Atlan said. It would be three hours till they could speak to Alexandra’s aunt.

Those letters were three, and none of them intelligible at first. They looked to be Latin, but of a very twisted Latin that made no sense; and neither could the addressee be deciphered. Gromell looked on helplessly-he had but the Latin he had heard in church, and the Latin Alexandra knew was limited as well. She had been educated with the nuns but for a few years.

Atlan, sitting on the bed in shirt and hose, having laid out the letters that had been but folded into leather covers, frowned and then laid the scrap of paper he thought to be the key down beside the parchments.

“Attention is drawn to the mistakes”, he mused. “Like regs for rex, domnis for dominus, and the like. Letters are exchanged for others, syllables are left out- “He stopped, and smiled sharply. “So, we are told what to expect. Letters are exchanged, and we must add syllables to make sense!”

“Yes, but which?” Alexandra was helpless with what she saw. 

Her lover was looking ahead in this habit of his when he was thinking hard, and then he nodded very slightly.

“The prayer written down on this paper is a well-known one for Easter. Do you know the original text?”

“I suppose, well, yes-It should be, Domine, virginis fili, adiuva me, Agne Dei, duce me, Fili Dei in coelis, audi me- “

“Where are the differences to what is written here?”

“Here he writes but Domi instead of Domine, vargins instead of virginis…”

Painstakingly they noted down every mistake and its original, and so had the differences they should apply, according to the kind of mistake made. In the end, patterns had emerged, and they had gained a clear idea of what to do with the letters.

“Gromell, please ask for parchment and quill and ink.”

“With pleasure, Sir Knight. But the nuns want payment for everything.”

“Because we obviously are not poor and in want ourselves. Here. Pay generously, we wish them to be well disposed to us.”

The squire bowed deeply and with a flourish, and betook himself outside to get the utensils for writing while the Arkonide set up a place at the table.

In the end, three quite intelligible and well-worded letters of invitation emerged, asking the addressees to come to Carlisle; one of them said in veiled, but for Atlan understandable terms that the addressee was to meet with the Young Lion, Son of the Lily, he with three lords and three maidens.

Gromell and Alexandra wondered who this man could be, and who the addressees were, for that was not said explicitly either.

“The one says that the messenger must cross three mountains and pass three lakes”, Atlan said. “Easy to interpret, that, especially when one considers what politically and practically makes sense. That is the crest of Powys, and the man concerned can be but Madog ap Maredudd, who will be either at his court at Llanfair, or at Oswestry Castle, which he has gained three years ago.” Fortunately, he was well informed enough to know that. Rico his robot servant had watched and observed closely, and during the waking and preparing process of his master, proceeding to go to Britain to stop the plague from spreading and to find the descendants of the Stellar Guests, he had recorded the political and economic situation of the people as closely as possible and had documented many details which had been sleep-fed in hypno teaching to the ancient Crystal Prince. Invisible flying spybots had their uses.

“The other tells the messenger to hunt three eagles in the meadow. That is the coat of arms Owain Mawr of Gwynedd carries-three eagles on a green field. Easy again who is addressed; less easy to persuade him to become part of this when Ranulf of Chester and Madog ap Maredudd are taking their part. Hard also to find him. With trouble brewing at the borders, he will not be in the west, at his family’s seat of Aberffraw, or at Bangor his capital which also is the spiritual center of Gwynedd, and neither at Aberystwyth in the West which was the castle of his brother Cadwaladr, and which he has taken from him. Perhaps in this, we will find help from your aunt Angharad, Alexandra.”

The young woman nodded.

“The third, and most veiled letter tells the addressee to meet with the Young Lion, Son of the Lily, him with three lords and three maidens, at the castle of the boundaries. That young lion could be anyone, but personally, I believe that there is a high chance for that person to be young Henry himself-only going by logic and likelihood since this is an undertaking of the Angevin party. The addressee is promised to have his staff returned; the messenger is told to go hunt lions on the lily’s meadow. All of that is too ambiguous for me to say for sure whom the third letter must go to. A staff could mean any religious man of high rank, with an abbot’s staff or the one of a bishop. That there are bishops who will support the Angevin cause I am sure. But who is the one we are meant to turn to? As well, that he has lost that staff means that he has been kind of exiled, has been sent away from where he was. Which cleric, devoted to the Angevin cause, was in consequence threatened and exiled by Stephen? Could be any abbot who was sent from his cloister to found another one. Which abbey was founded recently somewhere in the area?”

“Flaxley”, Alexandra immediately responded. “And Roger Fitzmiles, earl of Hereford, who was at bitter odds with his father’s enemy, the bishop of Hereford Robert de Bethune, himself is a supporter of the Angevin cause as much as we know, though perhaps more loyal to King Stephen now that he must, and is at odds with Gilbert Folliot the new bishop, who is his kinsman but still has excommunicated him.”

The Arkonide cocked his head. “Both of them in ambiguous positions, though. Hard to say which side they are on now, and which side they will jump to.”

“I don’t understand”, Gromell murmured, somewhat lost with the matter, though Alexandra must understand better because she was frowning and biting her lip. 

“Roger Fitzmiles originally was on king Stephen’s side, with his father, and defected to the Empress, also with his father” Atlan explained calmly. “Miles his father died six years ago, you said, unshriven and unblessed and excommunicated. For that Roger bore hatred for Robert de Bethune in his heart, but has had to bow to the new bishop too who excommunicated him, and founded Flaxley abbey to regain the bishop’s blessing, and to perhaps save his father’s soul. Logically to Flaxley a man was sent who was a friend to both father and son and must have supported the Angevin cause as fervently as an abbot before and must have been deprived of his rank for that. But that prior at Flaxley, now, is subject to the bishop of Hereford, who is the one who really decides this issue on the religious side. Gilbert Folliot has sworn allegiance to Henry Fitz Empress at Reims, and that he never would join King Stephen. Yet that was exactly what he did the moment he came into Stephen’s territory, to have him as an ally, which is where the quarrel with Roger Fitzmiles comes from. So, whether the prior at Flaxley will turn his coat as well, to be on good terms with his bishop, will have to be seen, just as Earl Roger could for the same cause turn back to King Stephen. We cannot go to him and ask him, thinking him to be a partisan of the Empress’ cause-he might just wait for the chance to turn, welcoming prisoners he could show to King Stephen to prove his loyalty. The same might go for the prior at Flaxley.”

Gromell exhaled deeply, and Alexandra rubbed her forehead. “I understand”, she murmured. “But whom can we turn to in this matter, then?”

“Your father must know, since he would have been the one to correct and rewrite the letters, I believe. He should have been able to send on the letters. Unfortunately, we cannot ask him, and as to the danger he might be in-Earl Roger is his overlord, and might have put him up to that, since you wondered about why a man like your father could be part of such a conspiracy. Yet we cannot be sure of that. We do not know whom your father is in contact with, and who the men are he answers to in this. He might be in the same danger of being betrayed by the Earl of Hereford as we are, if Earl Robert finds out what he does, and it was not his order to do so.  
So we cannot turn to the Earl, and we cannot turn to your father, or to the prior of Flaxley abbey, for all that. But we can have a look at your father’s connections, and why it is he who is the man Alan Fitzurse would have ridden to.”

“Because he is a man who is loyal to the Empress?” Alexandra said, in a doubtful tone.

The Arkonide smiled. “Yes, that for one reason”, he replied.” For another, think of the cause he might have-his father rebelled against Henry the old king, and paid for it dearly. He lost all his lands in England and had to fall back to Poitou. To your father, nothing was left but the name of Lancaster, and his lands went to Stephen of Blois, who became king Stephen. Well, so-to your father the king might be the robber of his lands and the one responsible for the hard conditions he is in. Then, he has been treated harshly and has not been given any reduction on taxes, while others got that who were loyal-and your father has not done anything to prove any disloyalty, or he would have lost his castle too. Of course, that could have to do with his half-Saxon descent as well. Still-nothing has made him love king Stephen, and much might turn him against him. But these reasons are only the ones that might move him, personally. They are not the reasons why he would be chosen for the role he seems to fill for our Angevin plotters.”

Gromell rubbed his temples, and asked:” And which would those be?”

“What makes a man valuable for a cause like this? He must be devoted to the cause and have his reasons for it-that we already have spoken of. He must be unobtrusive and be able to fill his role-and there he is valuable indeed. Even his own daughter would not have put such an involvement past Poins of Lancaster, why then should others do that? He is a small baron and perhaps under the orders of his overlord-if the Earl of Hereford, Roger Fitzmiles, is involved and knows, which is doubtful. Or he is beholden to some other lord greater than him who can order him, or even blackmail him. There are several possibilities. He lives apart in a small castle and has only his friends to visit, no greater man stopping at that place to notice anything. And-and that is the true and greatest reason of all, I believe-he has close connections into Wales, to the family of his wife on her mother’s side, whose castle he lives in. That, and only that, I think, is the true point in all of this when letters are to be sent to Powys and Gwynedd.”

Alexandra nodded, convinced now, and so did Gromell, with a grim mien. This all made a lot of sense to him. 

“So that, too, is where we must turn to find our third addressee. Angharad your great-aunt, Alexandra, seems to be the one we should travel to meet first. She might know whom your father is in contact with else, for this is what plotters need to know as one of the first things to be able to know their risks, and where danger might come from. And it will not be only her who needs to know, but those she is the line to. For those contacts else, to the courts of Owain Gwynedd and of Madog ap Maredudd, we must ask her. She will be the one to send us on.”

“You are sure of that, my love”, Alexandra wondered. 

“Yes. For- whom did your father write letters to, frequently? And did he have reason else, inviting her and others of your family to your castle, or discussing matters in dispute?”

“No. I haven’t seen aunt Angharad and her family for two years!”

“And when did your father send letters to her?” 

“Every month”, the young woman responded, any doubt gone from her voice now. 

Giving back the nod the red-eyed knight held up his open hand. “There we go.”

It was not long till a lay brother came to conduct the couple to meet the woman’s aunt and have speech with her in the visitor’s room. They went with lighter hearts now, knowing the way that lay before them, and where they must go after they had played their little charade to make people remember them as having been at Hereford that day.

Aunt Benedicta, former Aldreda of Eavenstead, was a formidable woman who appeared to be calm and caring, but evidently could be commanding as well, knowing what she did and said, and ordered. She was infirmartrix at the cloister and nearest to what this time and place knew of a professional medic and had the necessary self-confidence to fill that post too. There was no hesitation in her greeting, and neither did she betray much surprise to see the man accompanying her niece, though he must come unexpected, and with uncommon traits of hair and eye.

The strange knight bowed properly, and Alexandra curtsied deeply, too deeply for the relationship they had. She looked worried and obviously somewhat nervous. 

“Child, it is good to see you again. Though I had expected to see your father accompanying you, hearing you had come with a knight. Where is he?”

“Oh, aunt-!” With a sob, the young woman suddenly ran to her and took her outstretched hands and began to weep bitterly. Little of that was faked, Atlan saw, and he understood all too well. As happy as Alexandra was with him, as disturbing and upsetting all the new things she had heard of must be, her life totally changed and turned upside down. That her father was actively plotting against the king and in mortal danger, therefore, could be but the last straw. All her worries and her tension came out of the young woman with that weeping fit, and well so. She would feel better and calmer afterward, with her heart lightened.

Surprised and worried in her turn the nun looked into her niece’s tear-swept face and asked:” What has happened to him, child? Did aught befall him?”

“Oh, not him! But me-“ Now Alexandra wept her heart out in truth, and her aunt took her into her arms and let her weep, patiently waiting for her to do her fill of it, the experience of an infirmartrix telling her right how to act.

When the young woman’s sobs became less frequent, she gently pushed her off a little and softly said:” Now, my child. Whatever has happened, most can be remedied or solved as long as a person is alive and well, and that is what you seem to be. Tell me what has happened to you, and why your father has not come with you.”

She sent a sharp look at the patiently waiting man behind her niece as she said that. Did she perhaps suspect already what this was all about?

“Very well possible”, the logic sector sent. “This woman is no delicate nun who has grown remote from the world, but a doctor and nurse who deals with sick people, blood, and pain every day and knows the world, and what it can do to people, better than any nun else in this cloister. She surely sees and hears much that other nuns do not, besides, like childbirth and troubles during pregnancy. Possibly she can advise a woman how to become pregnant the easiest, while she will not tell them how to avoid having children, being a nun, and a woman of the church. She surely knows well enough what happens between man and woman. Stay to the truth as much as you can.”

“Oh, aunt-Benedicta-“Alexandra stopped and blushed, apparently not knowing how to go on and what to say. They had spoken about what they would say, and how, but they had not reversed in detail, and now the way the young woman behaved was a very natural one, and most probably the very truth of how she felt right at the moment. His turn, just as true as matters were.

“What happened was and is all my fault, and my responsibility. Your niece is innocent of everything.”

Alexandra blushed further, knowing that that was not altogether true, though technically it was. Had she refused, and fought, Atlan would not have gone on and would have left off touching her, she knew that now, though she had not known it then. But it was true that he had done everything he could to bedazzle and win her and seduce her in every way that was not foul. Winning her as his love, having her come with him, had been his clear wish and goal, and he had pursued that with all the means ready to his-ah-hand. Not only his hands, though their touches-

“Oh, Mother Mary. My children.” The nun sighed and held her niece off from her to look into her eyes.

“Is it true, then?” Sister Benedicta did not even ask what Alexandra was innocent of. She seemed to have understood perfectly. Was it that obvious?

“Yes”, the logic sector retorted, shortly.

Alexandra answered as naturally, seeing her aunt understood. “I’m-I’m not with child, I don’t think”, she said, slightly stammering. “Though it’s not long enough-but he said- “

“I’ve been to the Holy land and to foreign places beyond that”, the Arkonide threw in, calmly but firmly. “I’ve learned to be what the paynim call an hakim over there, which is a medicus in England, and more than that. I know herbs a man can take to keep him childless in the night he has taken them. No, Alexandra is not with child.”

The nun took a deep breath and simply sat down upon the bench, her grievous gaze hanging on to her niece’s face.

“Oh, my child”, she said, sadly, but also in a somewhat harder voice. She must already begin to think beyond shock and grief and ponder what to do, and how to solve the situation as best it might be solved. This was a very practical woman who had learned to deal with shock and catastrophes and would deal with the outcome and take action to salvage what could be salvaged, of bodies hurt and sick and of minds and souls having fallen into darkness.

“I have fallen in love with her when first I saw her.” Which was not entirely true either, not fully. But since it was true now, he was not lying, and it explained his actions which otherwise could not be clarified as easily and especially not as favourably. 

“I chose her as the queen of love and beauty at the tournament of Abergavenny and was its victor. We spent hours together, and I knew that I wanted her, I needed her to become part of my life, as long as God would give us that togetherness-but at the same time I knew that her father would never consent to a suit of mine, and never would give her hand to me. So I took with force what I could not gain otherwise. I am sorry and ashamed of the way I had to do that, and that I had to do it since I saw no other way to gain what I found I could no longer go without. But I am not sorry that I have won her for myself, no matter how. I am immensely glad of that.”

Alexandra blushed fiercely at that speech, and could not suppress a little smile, which the sharp eyes of the sister infirmartrix caught very well. So, whatever her niece might have done trying to oppose this man’s evil deed at first, she had not been unaffected by that later. She had not denounced the man or tried to escape him or run into the church to seek sanctuary on the altar’s steps.

“I have told your father before that it was time to marry you to a good young man, and that his standing and rank, and his means, were less important than his honesty and his good character”, she said severely. “Now see what has become of you with waiting for too long, no mother there to rein you in and to instruct you while nature was calling you because of your ripe age, and you answering to seduction and desire so easily that you would bring the man to me who took you and abducted you and forced you!” 

Alexandra turned pale and blushed again and took several deep breaths in her agitation. She knew that her aunt was right to berate her. Of course, this was all her fault too-

Atlan stepped forward. He held the nun’s gaze with his light red one and said firmly:” I will not have you treat my lady harshly or censure her when the fault is mine entirely. I lured her to stroll into the woods with me, with her maid accompanying us, so Alexandra could not suspect any ill coming to her. We came to the place I had prepared, with food and drink and a cosy place, and I slipped a soporific into her maid’s drink, who swiftly fell asleep and did not even wake when I had my will of her mistress, making her mine. I did not even ask Alexandra’s forgiveness later but begged her to come with me and leave her father, speaking of love and trying to bedazzle and convince her in any way I could. I was at least truthful enough to my beloved lady and told her how my situation was, and why I could not honourably and openly court and woo her. She had charity enough in her heart not to deliver me to noose or sword then and there and seemed to understand my motives well enough. But she would not leave her father come what may, and she would not give her consent to come with me. I was devastated and extremely disappointed that I could not convince her to elope with me. But she would not betray her father.”

“Yet the two of you stand before me together!”

“Yes, sister Benedicta. That we came to leave together must have been God’s will, for none of us had planned it so. I had hoped to win her to my side by forcing her and taking her, but I was not willing to abduct Alexandra if she would not come with me of her own free will. Then fate and perhaps God intervened and gave her to me nevertheless.”

“Let me hear of this miracle of God”, the nun said, a distinctly sarcastic tone in her voice. The Arkonide chose to ignore it.

“I had fought fair and well at the tournament. But one of the men I bested there had become my enemy before when I took a man from him by combat as was my right, a man he wanted hanged and whom I took to be my squire instead. That knight tried to murder us on the way to the tournament, and since he failed tried to ambush me a second time with a large troupe of men when I came down from Abergavenny castle after the feast held in honour of the tournament, two days ago. Poins of Lancaster had heard of their plans and sent his daughter to warn me of my danger, so saving my life. She waited for me behind a bush down near the castle road and told me what her father had ordered her to say to me. That moment my wolf, which had run to meet me, had found the men hidden and waiting for me and began to attack them, which sprang the trap early and had the men ride out of their hiding-places helter-skelter. They spied me and rode to meet me, starting to shoot arrows. Now not only my life but also Alexandra’s was in danger.”

“And so, you took her up into your saddle and rode with her to safety and took her with you when you escaped your would-be murderers.”

“Yes, sister Benedicta.”

“Abduction by accident, I never have heard of such a story”, she sighed, but her voice was less sarcastic and hostile than before. Apparently, she believed them.

“You see, aunt- “Alexandra said softly, “we could not go back to Abergavenny castle. The men who had survived the fight might still be lurking on the way, a single shot could have killed us if it had hit us. So I spent the night with-with Atlan, hiding in the woods with him and his squire, and in the morning the situation was no better. But I had spent the night with my lover, and could not go back to my father, who now must know all about what had happened to me, and what we had done. I would not have father draw on Atlan and having them fight over me who was-who am no longer a virgin.”

The young woman’s voice was firmer now.

“I am very sorry to have betrayed my father and to have left him, but after all that has happened between my lover and me, love and anger and that we have saved each other’s lives-I cannot go back to father and leave Atlan instead.”

The nun took a deep breath.

“I see.” A sharp look went to the red-eyed and white-haired knight. “There was a fight?”

“Yes. The men pursuing us were more than thirty. My squire noticed the commotion since he had waited for me on the way I must come, and when I reached him I sent Alexandra to ride on alone to our camp in the woods and took my place among the trees to shoot at our pursuers together with my squire. They did not see us in the dark between the trees, while they were out in the open fields and well visible, enough to aim and hit. After that, we hid in the woods for another day and made our way towards Hereford, and the night slept in an inn beside the road. That was yesterday. We came here as soon as we had reached Hereford. Alexandra wanted to speak to you.”

“And well it was that she did.”

The infirmartrix’s gaze went back and forth between the two who stood before her, heads up and backs straight. 

“Explain to me, Sir Knight, why you thought that Poins would not give my niece’s hand to you”, she demanded firmly, holding his gaze then. He bowed shortly.

“First of all- I am no rich landed lord, but just a knight errant, lately hailing from the Holy Land, and have but in my pocket what I have won in the wars, and what I have earned acting as a medicus and a minstrel. If the lord of Lancaster Castle were not content with the means other knights of the area have at their disposal, how could he be content with what I could offer his daughter? Additionally-look at me, sister. My looks are no sign of anything evil, but some people fear me nevertheless, and for sure Poins of Lancaster would not have welcomed a man into his family who is-who can be called a veneficus and a sorcerer. I have used my knowledge only to the good of people and never have done harm with it. At Abergavenny, I have healed young Stephen who returned from the Holy Land not long ago, and have done my best to stop the plague from spreading. I believe this land will be spared from that sickness now.”

Slowly the nun nodded.

“Even I, in the retreat and peace of our cloister, have heard of the strange miracle worker and healer knight who has spent weeks at the abbey teaching new things to the people, like a new kind of sowing and harrowing, healing the whole population of whatever ailing, and saving all the people from the plague. Yes, I heard that, and some news of the tournament also. You must not only be a good medicus but also an exceptionally good fighter. That you are a minstrel in addition I had not heard yet.”

The knight bowed again, with a flourish this time.

“Your deed was felony indeed, sir knight, and should be punished, and hard at that. But I see that my niece has not yet seen fit to accuse you before the sheriff.”

Alexandra bowed her head.

“No, Aunt Benedicta”, she said softly. “If it is true that I have saved my lover’s life with warning him, then it is true that he threw himself between the men attacking him and me, and fought them with all he could, risking his life to save mine. He could have ridden swifter and been out of danger sooner if he had not tried to get me to safety first. And remember, Aunt Benedicta-it was my father himself who sent me to warn Sir Atlan. I would not even have known of this ambush but for my father’s words to me.”

“Hm. Yet you are not man and wife yet. That you are lodging together in a room in this cloister is sacrilege indeed. The first thing you do when you leave this room, Sir Atlan, is leaving the priory’s grounds as well.”

He bowed again.

“Gladly, if you wish it, sister infirmartrix. But if I leave, Alexandra leaves with me. I will not have her stay here alone and without any protection. If she is left here on her own she will have to retreat to your hermitage to be truly safe, and you could lock her in against her will there too easily if it comes to your or your abbess’ mind. It was felony indeed what I did to her against her will, forcing her to become my mistress, but as wrong it would be to force her to take the veil and become a prisoner of the church against her will!  
You could hold her there on the pretext on waiting for her father’s decision about her, and if he, in anger, decides not to allow her to come home to him anymore and moreover disinherits her-which is easily possible, as I hear-then she will be left destitute and even without the dowry the cloister asks, and be forced to do the lowest and dirtiest work as the most wretched sinner. I will not leave my love to such a fate! She leaves with me, or you will not have me step out of your walls at all!”

The nun looked at the slightly irate man with raised brows. “See how the two of you are considerate and protective of each other already, defending each other with a will. With matters as they stand, then there is but one way left for the two of you to go, isn’t there? Was that the matter you wished to speak of to me, Alexandra?”

“Yes-and no, Aunt Benedicta.” The young woman blushed again and lowered her head, looked up again, a look of desperation on her now.

“I do not really know what to do, aunt! With marriage-there is more than one problem to solve!”

“Which are?” 

“First of all-look at the colour of his eyes, aunt! I was afraid deep in my heart, and thought-that a woman of the church could tell me- “

“Are you afraid of this man still, child?”

Alexandra, looking down, slowly shook her head.

“Then listen to your heart, my child. Doing as he did, saving the people of Abergavenny from the sickness, this knight proved, to my opinion, well enough that he is no evil man but means well. I know that he gave great sums for alms to the poor instead of asking payment for the medicine he brewed and handed out, and I know as well how easily a person learned and taught in medicine can be looked upon as evil and dangerous by the ignorant. Even I, a nun, have heard fools call me a witch when they were in their cups and afraid of my knife or a cup which tasted foul. A man with red eyes handing out cups as he did will hear worse accusations from the ignorant, I believe. If he were truly evil and a man of Satanas the fiend, he would not have come with you to the cloister or entered this room which is within the hermitage already and within our blessed precinct. If he were a devil in disguise, he would have flown out the window, howling.”

The Arkonide’s face showed wry amusement and a little surprise, while Alexandra had to laugh involuntarily, imagining her lover howling in a different way. It would be wise to leave before the night came. In an inn, there was no reason for them to stay chaste in bed.

“Then-is it the dowry?” A coolly appraising look hit the red-eyed knight. “Of course, it is the full right of your father to deny you and to disinherit you, of that you must be aware, my child. Even if you were innocent initially, dear niece, you are betraying him now, and have betrayed him from the moment you decided not to return to your father, no matter the state you were in. I would understand the desire a landless knight errant has not only for a maiden’s charms but also for her property. Alexandra is her father’s only heiress. But he might easily decide to disinherit her.”

“I do not care a whit for that!” Atlan responded with some heat. “I would take her in her shirt-and even without that! I do not need any money or any dowry! All that I desire is her, herself, and nothing else! To furnish her out, and give everything to her she needs, and to care for her I have means enough, and if money runs out then I know how to sell another new device from foreign lands or mix medicine I can sell. I got through half the world that way and was well off enough, and I can support a lady of my own that way as well!”

Alexandra looked at her lover with wide shining eyes. Now that he declared all of this before her aunt, he made even these sentiments perfectly real. Apart from the fact that he did not need to sell anything to have and get money enough, being who-and what-he was.

“On the contrary”, the Arkonide added firmly, “I plan to renounce any inheritance and dowry Alexandra might get from her father for myself, publicly. Whatever she may get belongs to her alone and would be used by her alone, and I would never lay a single finger upon it! Apart from that, whatever she needs I can provide. As long as I live, she doesn’t need her father’s means to support her.”

“I see.” The nun’s voice was gentle now, and softer. “I believe you, Sir Knight.”

“Thank you, sister. “He bowed shortly, still frowning.

“Coming from the Holy Land, where do you come from originally, Sir Knight?”

“I am Atlan of Arcon, from Toulouse.”

“Toulouse, I see. And why did you come here to England then, and did not go to your warm and shining city?”

“For two reasons. One, on my way I saw the plague spread and saw how the men going home carried it with them. England is an island and might get ravaged indeed if this southern sickness spreads here. I thought I could do good indeed to mankind and do God’s work if I managed to stop that in time. Such work is done according to my knight’s oath also, and what a pilgrim having walked the Holy Land must do for other Christians. The other reason is that I have heard about a castle in the north where a clan of strange knights lives, who know more about the secrets of nature than any other people do. I hoped to be able to learn more about the art of healing from them, and plan to go there for that purpose.” That was all perfectly true, but it was not all, no longer.

The nun nodded, seeming to approve. This talk went better than hoped for!

Her gaze went back to her niece, piercing.

“What problem, then, will you still be wanting to solve, Alexandra? Your father’s permission and forgiveness will have to be obtained later, as much is true. He will need time to calm down and to come to terms, and he might disinherit you indeed. Still, he is your father, and his forgiveness both of you will have to ask in time, and on your knees if necessary. But lay his first grandchild into his arms, and he will change his heart, my child. Trust in God. He is all-powerful and all-merciful. Confess before your marriage, and do penance, and then go to the altar with pure hearts, and the blessing of the Lord will not be lacking for your bond of marriage despite the evil way your relationship was started.”

The young woman swallowed and looked down.

“Exactly that is what we cannot do and hope for, sister Benedicta”, the knight said with a true sound of regret.

“At least I cannot. I am under the bannum adnegationis beneficiorum, not for my own sins but the ones of my overlord, count Raymond of Toulouse. But even if I went to Rome and asked the pope on my knees to lift it from me since I personally am innocent of the deeds the ban was thrown for, the pope would not relent for the sake of forcing count Raymond. I cannot wed your niece in church, and if I did penance on my knees for days. I have offered handfasting to her instead.”

The nun was obviously much taken aback at that. She had crossed herself, and now sat with a frown and her lips compressed.

“That is indeed much, in the end, that speaks against a bond with this man, my child”, she said. “I see why you doubt your resolve and do not know what to do. God’s blessing is indispensable for your marriage, child, if it has begun so sinfully! You could still wait for your father’s relenting and his decision in peace and security with me here in the cloister, helping me in my work as a lay sister, under my eye and my direct protection, and no lock between you and the world but the hermitage itself. If your father denies you then and disinherits you, you can still decide upon taking the veil-for anything else will not be left to you then. But it will be a good and blessed life and will save your soul indeed. On the other hand, if you go with this man now and marry him without God’s blessing, you will live in sin as every peasant swine does and go to hell too easily after such a life. Consider that, my child.”

“And his soul, which is condemned without his fault?” Alexandra asked in a hard tone.

“His soul and its weal are the concern of this man, and not yours, my child. Was not the sin that besmirched you and your soul so badly now his too, in the beginning, and did he not drag you down into the mire of his sinning without you noticing, as much good else he might be doing? I warn you, child, of the carnal sin a woman as the daughter of Eve falls to so easily. We are cursed by our foremother’s deed and have to atone for it and cannot heap more sin upon us with thoughtless foolishness. You have gone far towards the eternal flames indeed already, my child. If you cannot live with this man blessed in a true marriage in church, blessed by a priest and pure in both your hearts, then you should consider foregoing this seduction of Satanas. If this man offers but that to you, he is a man of the devil indeed, dragging your soul to hell along with his own. Come with me, my child. I will take you with me to the hermitage, through this door whence I came, and you will be safe from the seduction of Satanas and from eternal hell. This very day I will send for our nun’s priest to shrive you and give you the penance you must do to clean your heart and your soul, and endow you with the robe of a penitent. You will see, my beloved child, how prayer and penance will purify your heart and your sinful flesh and guide you to God’s forgiveness, and to his blessings.”

She stood, and authoritatively stretched out her hand to take Alexandra’s, who had listened with widening eyes and paling face, and now stepped back swiftly from her aunt.

“How can you be so cruel and forbidding to a man whom you yourself confirmed not to be evil just now? That he is under this ban comes from the injustice of the princes of the church and their hardness of heart, condemning the innocent along with the guilty only for the allegiance they owe in the world! He did nothing to deserve that!”

The nun nodded shortly, but her mien was cold and denying now. “That might be, but in any other way hard minds and hearts and the will of heretical lords who drag their people with them to hell, ordering them to follow them, cannot be broken, and their people not be saved. I will concede that your seducer, the man who raped you against your will, has done good deeds and surely will find them held for him by the angels when he dies and goes to hell, and they might buy him an entrance to purgatory. But if he lived with women in sin like he plans to do it with you, then nothing can save him, no good deed and no prayer, and in hell, he will howl together with the worst of the lechers and sinners. Be glad to be free and rid of this felon and villain, my child. Come, now!”

That was spoken in a hard voice as an order, but Alexandra only stepped back another few steps, her face turning from shock and disbelief to hard resolve too.

“And if you believe that, aunt, then I cannot help you. Condemn us as much as you want. God will not condemn us but knows love for his children, and he will bless our love without the alms doled out by hard-hearted clergy!”

“Shameless slut, see how deeply you have sunk into sin already to dare accuse and speak against men of the church! Shame upon you! I see that I have to save you as you stand at the edge of the abyss!”

The nun strode forward, clearly bent on taking her niece with her by force, when Atlan intervened, stepping in between and effectively halting the nun’s progress.

“Sister Benedicta, you will not speak like this to my promised and my beloved lady”, he said calmly, but with a steely and cold undertone. 

“You are all wrong besides. Do you not know what the bible says, what Jesus Christ himself said upon the mountain? And has he not himself saved Mary Magdalene? Be careful of throwing the first stone, sister! It seems that you do not know what your own teacher, Christ himself, has said and taught in Palestine!”

The nun crossed herself, murmuring, and then held out her hand with a cross in it.

“Out of here, devil, Satanas, Beelzebub!” she said in a hard voice. “Out of here, now! That you, blackest sinner of them all, dare to gainsay a nun in her own cloister! Take your dirty whore and begone and may the hounds of hell hunt you down into the abyss where you belong, both of you! You are no niece of me and no relative, you unwholesome slut! I will ask your father to disinherit you and deny you and warn him to forgive you! You will see what comes of being disobedient, and lecherous, dirty whore! In poverty, you will beg for alms and try to give bread to your hungry children when this devil has thrown you away after he has had his lust of you, and you will see them starve and die before you do the same and then will burn forever!”

The Arkonide only turned his back on the irate nun and took his lady’s hand and guided her out of the room while behind them her aunt yelled:” Out, devil! Out of here! Begone!”

Alexandra was weeping quietly while she walked with a firm step, her head up and her back erect.

“I thought that all went well before this talk worsened so quickly. But we could not keep from telling her the truth that we cannot marry in church, since she expected it of us. I am sorry, so sorry, Alexandra, to have your relationship to this aunt soured like that, and perhaps to your father too. Would you like me to- “?

“Do something to change matters?” she asked, smiling a little shakenly, looking up to him, while tears still ran down her cheeks. “Do real magic, Faye magic, you mean? No, for sure not. My aunt isn’t worth such an effort, and such a risk, and such a waste of your powers, my love. But give me your love the more today, and tonight, let me feel your love and wash me clean of this anger and hatred, and I will be well, and happy again. Give your love to me all the days and nights that we live together, that I will be alive, mortal that I am-and there will be nothing more I shall need, or want, or desire.”

“My beloved lady”, he whispered, taking her into his arms and kissing her deeply, uncaring that they stood in a corridor within a cloister. Alexandra was still shaking slightly, but she was steadying swiftly.

“My beloved lord”, she whispered back, kissing him too. When they let go of each other she laughed a little.

“The stir we had hoped for we already have made”, she said. “My aunt will not keep this a secret.”

“Earl Roger at least will not criticize us on the grounds of that ban”, Atlan responded. “Not with the experiences he and his father had with excommunication!”

Gromell had but one look at their faces and let his shoulders sag and sighed. “That seems not to have gone too well”, he murmured.

“Not well at all, no”, the Arkonide retorted, smiling wryly. “We leave, now. Let us pack. I am a devil and a Satanas and am told to leave immediately and be gone. I shall oblige the gracious lady nun. The names she gave to my lady I need not repeat. Had that shrew been a man she’d have gotten a slap or two!”

Alexandra brushed the last of her tears away and smiled. “No regrets”, she said firmly. “Let us be gone indeed. In a side street of Cathedral lane there is an inn I remember where my father and I have lodged before. They always served the best spiced sausages with baked apples. Let us go, I’m becoming hungry!”

The men laughed and had their packs ready within a short time. Luckily, they had not fully unpacked yet.

When they walked down the steps of the guesthouse, on their way to the stables, they saw and heard some stir at the gate. Five armed men were striding in and had stated their wish with the lay brother who served as porter, because the man came out and closed the gate fully behind them, throwing down the heavy bar.

“Looks like they are closing the gate”, Gromell wondered and described the obvious.

“We’ll leave by the horse mews”, Atlan said sharply. “Let’s not wait for further delays and unpleasantries!”

“Aye!” The squire did not need further incitement. But something hurried him, even more, the next moment.

“There he is!” The armed men had begun to run, straight at the Arkonide, two of them suddenly showing loaded crossbows.

“My aunt, has she- “Alexandra cried in confusion, grabbing for her skirts but unsure where to run.

“Too soon for a complaint lodged by her! This must be for another reason! The letters! Send Alexandra and Gromell to sanctuary!” the logic sector called.

“Alexandra, Gromell! Take the saddle bags and run! To the altar’s steps, for sanctuary!”

The two stood and stared in shock, not comprehending the situation yet.

“Run, now!” Atlan yelled at them, and now they reacted, Gods be thanked, turning, and running indeed towards the priory church, just passing one of the men who had arrived. But that one was anyway going for him, the Arkonide saw. He could not use his sword to kill if he did not want to destroy any chance that this was but a misunderstanding. He could not kill, but he had to buy time for Alexandra and Gromell to get to safety. He himself was a knight and would not be treated too harshly, by whomever these men had been sent by. The sheriff, possibly. But Gromell was only a squire and a Saxon to boot. He might get shot carelessly. And Alexandra-her he had to protect to the utmost of his abilities, come what may.

The first man fell and rolled down the steps, felled by a mighty kick in his arse, while the next one brandished a longsword and yelled: “Sir Atlan of Arkon! Stand and let yourself be taken or die!”

At least the situation was clear with that. Good, because the attention of the men was concentrated on him, not on Alexay or Gromell. They had disappeared from the courtyard and must be halfway to the altar.

The Arkonide showed the soldier a feral grin and went at him point-blank, unheeding of the man’s threat. The longsword was knocked aside with force, and the man staggered, unbalanced on the steps he had tried to mount.

Atlan shoved him down and had the man fall and kicked the sword away from his hand. It clattered across the courtyard so that another man had to jump aside.

The third man was getting into sword range now and attacked, calling to the knight that he should surrender, on the orders of his Grace the sheriff and Earl of Hereford, Roger Fitzmiles de Gloucester.

“Why and what for?” the Arkonide called back and caught two hits by his blade. Another sword would have been marked with notches, but this was Arkonath steel, which would stay unchanged in any human furnace of this time.

Turning, he attacked himself and brought a hit to bear at the man’s shoulder, the flat blade doing little harm since the soldier was clad in mail. But it made him stagger back, and curse in Norman French. 

Jumping back up the steps, Atlan was facing three men with their swords at the ready, while the other two were picking themselves up and were looking for their weapons. Two of the men had loaded crossbows and were aiming at him, which was more of a threat than the swords were.

The Arkonide was without his mail-coat and his armour, and vulnerable to those crossbow bolts if he did not activate the protective energetic screen in his belt. But here in the priory’s courtyard, in full public view, he could not do that, or he would be accused of witchcraft in earnest. Damn. Under the circumstances resistance was futile.

“Why and what for do you want to arrest me?” he repeated, keeping his sword at the ready to strike at the first man advancing. Had they meant to kill him the crossbows would have been fired already. Should he try to escape, or was it better to let himself be taken? Alexandra and Gromell were out of danger for now, but they stayed targets even upon the altar steps of the priory church. If he ran, he would have to free them in the night by stealth and the means of Arkonath technology. He could count upon them being in the focus of the Earl’s attention if he got away, fighting and downing these men and escaping by the stable mews. They would be besieged by who knew how many soldiers waiting for them to give up. If he got them out by Arkonath means then, they would all be hunted for sorcery and witchcraft. Any diplomatic mission he had planned for after was flushed down the ducts from then on. Damn it to the Dark Spirits of the Stars, again. 

“You’ll hear that directly from his Grace the sheriff and earl of Hereford, Roger Fitzmiles de Gloucester”, the leader said, his dark eyes flashing, though he did not advance for now. “Sir Atlan of Arkon, stand and let yourself be taken!”

“Give up”, the logic sector advised, sharply. “You won’t get into danger to your life, or those crossbows would have been triggered by now. This might be a chance to get into contact with the Earl of Hereford and learn whether he is upon the Angevin side, and the side of Poins of Lancaster, or not. Any other action will put your further plans into severe jeopardy if it will not make them impossible. In the end, the question is whether you can prevent the civil war from flaring up or not. Curb your pride and think of thousands of lives you can save in truth. Moreover, get yourself into Roger Fitzmiles’s focus and keep Alexandra and Gromell out of it.”

Atlan took a deep breath and let sink his sword, and then threw it down at the feet of the leader of the soldiers and stretched his arms to the sides in surrender.  
Wordlessly the men produced manacles and chains, and bound his hands and feet, effectively keeping him from fighting back indeed. Someone here knew what to expect from the victor of the latest Abergavenny tournament.

Men and women all over the courtyard had stepped back to the walls and stared as he was led away, stumbling a little. At least Alexandra and Gromell were safe-for now; whether he was a spectacle as he was dragged through half of Hereford to the castle, he cared less for than for his love’s and his friend’s inviolacy.

Whatever might come to him now, he would be able to deal with it, he was sure of that, at least.


End file.
